Thomas a



(No Model.)

T. A. DAVIES.

FISH PLATE FOR RAILROAD RAIL JOINTS. No. 320,641. Patented June 23, 1885.

I G v I j WITNESSES ININVENTOR W y BY Jwww 1% ATTORNEYS.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS A. DAVIES, OF NElV YORK, N. Y.

FISH-PLATE FOR RAILROAD-RAIL JOINTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,641, dated June 23, 1885.

Application filed April 22, 1885. (No model.)

I '0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS A. DAvIEs, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fish-Plates for Railroad-Bail Joints, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure l is a sectional end elevation of a pair of my improved fishplates, a rail to which they are applied, the spring-washer, and a nut, a bolt being shown in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the same, one pair of bolts being shown with nuts and the other pair without nuts.

The object of this invention is to provide fish-plates constructed in such a manner that the rails forming joints will be held rigidly iuzline both horizontally and laterally, and

will thus serve as continuous rails.

The invention consists in fish-plates constructed with a flange upon their inner sides, near their upper edges, and in the combination of such fish-plates with the rails, the springwashersand the bolts and nuts of the track, as will be hereinafter fully described, and then claimed.

A B represent two adjacent rails of a railroad-track forming a joint. (3 are the fishplates, the side edges of which are beveled to fit against the beveled lower sides of the heads and the beveled upper sides of the base flanges of the rails A B. The fish-plates (J are made of such a breadth that their side edges will come to their seats against the heads and base-flanges of the rails before the inner sides of the said fishplates come in contact with the webs of the said rails.

Upon the inner sides of the fish-plates 0, near their upper edges,are formed flanges D, which rest against the webs of the rails A B, as shown in Fig. 1.

In applying my improved fish-plates to the rails the upper edges of the fish-plates O are placed against the lower sides of the heads of the rails A B, with the flanges D resting against the webs of the rails, and the lower parts of the fish-plates are then forced inward to their seats upon the base'flange of the rails, so that the said fish-plates will always have three substantial bearings upon the rails, the first and second against the heads and base-flanges of the rails, to hold the said rails rigidly in a horizontal line, and the third against the webs of the rails, to hold the said rails rigidly from lateral movement.

The fish-plates O D are secured in place by the ordinary bolts and nuts E F, and my improved angular springwashers G, for which Letters Patent have been allowed. With this construction the tendency of the spring-ashers G will always be to feed the fish plates to their bearings,so that any wear that may occur will be at once taken up and the joints kept rigid.

The nuts F are locked in place when screwed home by breaking down the screw-threads of the bolts and nuts, or either of them, at the outer side of the said nuts, as indicated at the point H in Fig. 1, so that it will be impossible for the said nuts to work loose.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A fish-plate, 0, made, substantially as herein shown and described, with a flange, D, upon its inner side near its upper edge, whereby the said fish-plate will always adjust itself to three distinct bearings, as set forth.

2. The combination, with the rails A B, and the fish-plates O,fitting between the heads and base-flanges of the rails, and having flanges D along their inner sides, near their upper edges, resting againstthe webs of the rails, of the angular spring-washers G, and the bolts and nuts E F, substantially as herein shown and described, whereby the ends of the rails will be held rigidly from vertical and lateral movement, as set forth.

TI-IOS. A. DAVIES.

Witnesses:

JAMES T. GRAHAM, O. SEDGWIoK. 

